Virgin Trains should order more trains for North Wales
The Government's policy of encouraging more people to take the train instead of the car in the future could come unstuck in North Wales because Virgin Trains has not ordered enough trains to cope with growth. After 2004 passengers may even find themselves being turned away at the stations.
The Railway Development Societys North Wales branch is concerned that Virgin Trains has ordered only four trains of four coaches each for the North Wales-London services. This almost certainly means no more carriages on the route than today, and there will be a loss of at least 12 carriages when North Western Trains is forced to stop its competing service in 2004.
Dave Sallery, press officer for the branch, said the indications were that Virgin Trains will try to turn the rail route into an airline-style operation, forcing everyone to buy their ticket and specify journeys days in advance unless they can afford a very high walk-on fare. This allows Virgin to control demand rather than aiming to get as many people as possible out of their cars and onto the trains.
He also warned that the rail safety regulators are unlikely to allow people to stand on the new tilting express trains, as they can on todays trains if necessary.
The number of trains ordered suggests to us that there is no plan to expand the market in the future, he said. These trains will be around for 20 years or more. The chances of more new trains being ordered for North Wales at a later date are slim because the rail franchises would not be long enough for those trains to earn a financial return.
Virgin's policy so far has been to increase the price of the unregulated Super Saver ticket faster than inflation, and impose restrictions on times when regulated Saver tickets can be used. They do offer cheap tickets but those must be booked in advance and passengers must use the trains they chose originally, even if their plans change. Those tickets are convenient for Virgin as they allow them to control the price of each seat on their trains.
When the new trains come in, if the allocation of cheap seats is sold out you simply wont be allowed on the train of your choice - unless you pay what will probably be a very high walk-on fare, mainly for business people.
The attached figures show how the small Virgin fleet will be unable to cope with travellers displaced from the abolished NWT services, let alone able to increase passenger numbers several times over.
To avoid this situation RDS North Wales wants either Virgin to increase its order for North Wales trains, or the Rail Regulator to revoke the non-competition guarantee given to Virgin so that other train companies will be able to provide additional services to and from London.
NOTES:
Comparison of coaches provided each day on North Wales-London services
TODAY: 3 trains of 8 coaches each way (Virgin)=24 coaches
2001-04: 4 x 3 coaches (NWT) + 3 x 8 coaches or 6 x 4 coaches (Virgin)=at least 36 coaches
AFTER 2004: 6 x 4 coaches (Virgin)=24 coaches
Likely net reduction in 2004=at least 12 coaches
The new 125mph trains are part of Virgins modernisation of the West Coast Main Line. In return for investing in new trains, it was given a guarantee by the Rail Regulator that it would not face any form of on-rail competition on the North Wales-London route after 2004. The new trains will tilt to allow faster journeys on curved track.
North Western Trains is committed to running four return services a day between North Wales and London from 2001 until its franchise ends in 2004. These will also be formed of brand new 125mph trains, although they will not have the ability to tilt on curves.
RDS North Wales January 1999